The Monster in Disney’s Closet: Critiquing Queer Representation and Narrative in Luca

Abstract

Queer bodies in animation have been a topic for discussion in many academic papers – particularly in their portrayal in children’s films. They are either considered problematic in their portrayal or made to be invisible to the eye by being pushed into the background (Tieszen 2017:2). In particular, queer characters are typically found in two situations in the history of Disney’s animated feature films: Either a character is queercoded and made the villain of the story – linking villainy to queer bodies, or is found in an interaction where same-sex desire is hinted at or shown, but is quickly shut down by a joke of disgust or awkwardness (Tieszen 2017:7). This dissertation will analyse to what extent the recent Disney Pixar film Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be considered a progressive and/or regressive feature film regarding queer representation within the history of the Disney franchise. Since the release of Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021), there have been multiple discussions about how this film has been queercoded and is potentially queerbait – as noted by scholar Kodi Maier (2021). This dissertation will discuss firstly, how Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) has improved the representation of the villain through not queercoding Ercole Visconti (the antagonist). Following this, how they portray male-on-male relationships and whether or not Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be perceived as a step forward. Thirdly, I will dive deep into the narrative’s plot points, highlighting how Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) has a clear underlying queer narrative, and how certain characters can be perceived as queer bodies, thus making it a queer film. Finally, I will discuss whether or not Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) can be labelled as queerbait, and highlighting the outcry that came from Luca (Enrico Casarosa: 2021) and how it showed the need for more queer representation. This paper will make use of a multimodal qualitative analysis in order to achieve the aim of this paper due to its many unique components: a discourse analysis will be used to discuss the broader prospects of this paper such as the history and current socialization of imagery and narratives alongside its influence on the public, whilst a semiotic analysis will help dive deeper into characters and how they are projected and/or represented.